Bye Tumblr, where to next?

In my previous blog post, I have said that I would only join mastadon (or another federated social media) when I left Tumblr or Insta. Well, now that every single social media company is selling our data to train AI models, there really aren't any good options left. Tumblr, WordPress, and Reddit all made agreements with Midjourney and other AI companies to use their data. This makes me very uncomfortable. This makes me very uncomfortable and very weary.

Thing is, I have been deleting and making new social media accounts for a long time. This was my third Tumblr account, I made multiple Reddit accounts, and I had 2 Instagram accounts. I hence deleted all of them but one Instagram account to keep in touch with friends. I really wanted Tumblr to be that social media solution, the one that is different from all the rest, respects privacy, and doesn't conform to become like every other social media. I was wrong. The company has always had a history of being transphobic, not caring about its userbase, horrible moderation, and not they think it's reasonable to just sell our data like this? Fuck. No. This was the last time I make an account with them. I'm sticking to my blog, where I can always pack up and move since my files are always saved and backed up on my computer as well as github. This is the best way, it's the solution I've always been looking for. I don't need to be on social media all the time, and I would rather spend hours editing my corner of the world than doomscrolling mindlessly and not learning anything.

I'm not going to lie, I'm going to miss the environment on Tumblr. People who share the same ideas as me, who are queer, who have hope for a better future, who hate capitalism and constant consumption and surveillance. The biggest problem is that I am *still on these websites that surveil me.* Preaching change but not changing myself, stuck in a constant loop of despair. I'm just going to stick to home base. At least now, if I really miss Tumblr, I can scroll on mastadon without creating an account, and if I find somewhere I really want to interact, I can just make an account there (once I know they treat my data right).

For now, though, I will stick to getting memes off my remaining social media accounts and my friends. I need the distance anyway, the online world is a cesspool of hate.

In other news, I'm planning on making a professional website to link to my resume, github, and linkedin to finally showcase my projects and webmastery. Maintaining a website is like a project in and of itself. My family has a domain name that I'm going to jump in on and use cause it's free and secure (finally), and companies can browse through my projects. This is going to be fun! I'll link my resume and make an about me. It's going to be great.